NGOs from around the world welcomed a landmark statement on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity, delivered last Friday at the United Nations Human Rights Council by Norway on behalf of 54 States.

The statement condemns human rights violations directed against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, commends the work of UN mechanisms and civil society in this area, calls on UN Special Procedures and treaty bodies to address these issues, and urges the Human Rights Council to pay due attention to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including consideration at an upcoming session.

“This is the largest-ever statement delivered at the UN on sexual orientation issues, and the first ever to explicitly highlight human rights violations based on gender identity.” said John Fisher, Co-Director of ARC International. “We are encouraged by the measurable increase in cross-regional support for sexual orientation and gender identity issues in recent years. The time has come to ensure that human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity receive the international scrutiny and condemnation they demand.”

“Numerous Special Procedures have documented violations of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons,” said Chris Sidoti, Director of the International Service for Human Rights. “These violations include use of the death penalty, torture, criminal sanctions, police harassment, violence, rape, beatings, disappearances, denials of freedom of expression, raids and closures of NGOs, and discrimination in education, employment, health and housing. Too often in the past, these human rights abuses have passed in silence. Now, the era of invisibility is over.”

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association highlighted the fact that more than 460 NGOs from 69 different countries had joined together to commend Norway for its leadership and support the statement. “Activists from around the world often work on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity at risk of their jobs, their freedom, even their lives. The Norwegian statement has united States and NGOs from around the world to send a clear message that human rights violations directed against our communities can no longer be ignored.”

Earlier this year, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour in a keynote speech to an International Conference on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights noted that “violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons is frequently unreported, undocumented and goes ultimately unpunished. … This shameful silence is the ultimate rejection of the fundamental principle of universality of rights. … Excluding LGBT individuals from these protections clearly violates international human rights law as well as the common standards of humanity that define us all.”

Arc International
International Service for Human Rights
International Lesbian and Gay Association, ILGA

I am pleased to speak to issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and human rights, on behalf of 19 ECOSOC-accredited NGOs. This statement is also supported by more than 460 additional NGOs from 69 countries (see list below).

We welcome the statement on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, delivered by Norway on behalf of a broad grouping of 54 States from Western, Central and Eastern Europe, in North, Central and South America, in Asia, and in the Pacific. We acknowledge also the support of many African States for the inclusion of sexual orientation in UN resolutions condemning extrajudicial executions.

We commend Norway for its leadership, building on similar initiatives by Brazil, New Zealand and others, and we are particularly encouraged by the measurable increase in cross-regional support for these issues in recent years.

It is hard to imagine that any State committed to human rights could disagree with the principle that no person should face death, torture or violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We look forward to further dialogue with, and support from, those States which did not yet feel able to join the statement, but which share the concern of the international community at these systemic human rights abuses.

Numerous Special Procedures have documented violations of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, including use of the death penalty, torture, criminal sanctions, police harassment, violence, rape, beatings, disappearances, denials of freedom of expression, raids and closures of NGOs, and discrimination in education, employment, health and housing. We urge all Special Procedures to integrate these important issues of human rights concern into their relevant mandates.

Too often in the past, these human rights abuses have passed in silence. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour stated earlier this year:

“[V]iolence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons is frequently unreported, undocumented and goes ultimately unpunished. … This shameful silence is the ultimate rejection of the fundamental principle of universality of rights. … Excluding LGBT individuals from these protections clearly violates international human rights law as well as the common standards of humanity that define us all.”

… 2

Similarly, Secretary General Kofi Annan has acknowledged that “discrimination on the basis of … sexual orientation … is all too common” and, speaking at a gathering of lesbian and gay UN employees, affirmed that “the United Nations cannot condone any persecution of, or discrimination against, people on any grounds.”

At a time when this Human Rights Council is seeking to enhance cooperation across regions and UN mechanisms on matters of basic human rights, it is encouraging that increasingly States, Special Procedures, treaty bodies, civil society, the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights are joining together to ensure that human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity receive the international scrutiny and condemnation they require.

This issue will not go away. We look forward to future discussion within this Council, with a view to safeguarding the principle of universality, and ensuring that all persons are treated as free and equal in dignity and rights, including on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Two years ago, Minneapolis, known for its civic diversity and tolerance, made national headlines for naming Bonnie Bleskachek the first openly lesbian fire chief of a major U.S. city.

Now city officials are cringing in the face of four lawsuits filed against her.

The city has settled two lawsuits with women firefighters who allege that sexual favoritism on Bleskachek's part stunted their careers in the department. A sexual harassment suit from a third female firefighter and a gender discrimination claim from a male employee are pending.

Last week, city officials were briefed on an investigation being conducted by a local law firm into Bleskachek's performance as chief. After the briefing, Mayor R.T. Rybak announced that a proposed deal that would have given Bleskachek severance pay and demoted her within the department is off the table. Instead, the city may move to fire her from the force, pending the completion of the investigation.

"The only thing decided is a broad consensus from the mayor and City Council that she be removed from the fire chief position," said Rybak's spokesman, Jeremy Hanson.

Bleskachek, 43, is furious that the city has settled the lawsuits rather than taking them to trial, where she could have told her side of the story.

"They have no evidence at all; this is all based on conjecture and hurt feelings," she said, in her home in a pleasant, modest south Minneapolis neighborhood.

There is no doubt the Fire Department is rife with personal dramas and romantic entanglements. One of the lawsuits against Bleskachek was filed by Jennifer Cornell, 35, the chief's ex-partner of six years, who shares custody of their two children. Another suit was brought by Kathleen Mullen, 43, a longtime friend who had dated Bleskachek's current girlfriend.

A third complaint is from a woman who says Bleskachek flirted with her and then punished her professionally after she declined the advances. Bleskachek counters that the firefighter, Kristina Lemon, was the one who professed attraction to her a decade ago and that she became angry when Bleskachek disciplined her last year for a physical altercation with another firefighter in a burning building.

In February, Cornell and Mullen were the only ones to pass the first portion of a test to promote two employees to battalion chief. Shortly afterward, Bleskachek and several other department officials scrapped the test and left the two positions vacant. Mullen and Cornell charge that the move thwarted their careers and was taken because Bleskachek's current partner, Mary Maresca, had failed the test.

Bleskachek said that the test had been hastily prepared and that officials were shocked that even after a preparatory college class, only two out of 13 firefighters passed. "The test was flawed," she said. "There were questions with more than one answer and ones that were poorly written."

In September, the city settled with Cornell for $65,000 and Mullen for $29,000. Mullen was retroactively promoted to battalion chief, and Cornell was promised a promotion within two years.

"Both of those women had a lot to lose by suing the city and would only have done it if it was absolutely necessary," said John A. Klassen, the attorney for Cornell, Mullen and Elondo Wright, 39, a black male firefighter who recently filed a civil rights lawsuit against Bleskachek, Maresca and the city.

Wright's lawsuit alleges that he was harassed after he was transferred to an all-female fire company overseen by Maresca in 2002. He says Maresca forced him to train long hours late into the night while other firefighters were relaxing, and he alleges that from 1999 to 2005, women supervisors gave him 86 informal disciplinary write-ups, while four male supervisors gave him a total of four. Bleskachek was Maresca's supervisor at the time.

"We're battling the public perception that where there's smoke there's fire," said Bleskachek's attorney, Jerry Burg. "But Bonnie was really a small player in the story of Elondo Wright."

The Minneapolis Fire Department had no women firefighters until 1986, though it was under a federal consent decree to increase diversity. When Bleskachek joined in 1989, she said women faced constant harassment by men.

She is credited with aggressively recruiting women and co-founding the Minnesota Women Fire Fighters Association, which helps women prepare for the entrance test. The national group Women in the Fire Service says 70 of the 447 Minneapolis firefighters are female, the highest percentage of any major department in the country.

Even Bleskachek's critics admire her firefighting and management skills.

"She's a very bright, competent individual who train-wrecked her career by letting personal relationships and abuse of her office cloud what could have been an enormously promising career," Klassen said.

Tom Thornberg, president of Minneapolis Fire Fighters Local 82, said union members are grateful to Bleskachek for convincing the city to establish minimum staffing levels, which it had never had.

National and local gay rights groups declined to comment on the situation but said Minneapolis is considered a leader in gay rights. Klassen says pride in this reputation backfired.

"The city's desire to hold itself out as a diverse, accepting community plays a role in this whole tragedy," he said. "The mayor didn't really look at his candidate well enough to see if she could handle it."

CHICAGO, Dec. 4 — Two years ago, when Bonnie Bleskachek was named fire chief in Minneapolis, it made news far beyond Minnesota because she was the first openly lesbian firefighter to achieve that rank in the professional fire service of a major city.

Hailed as a pioneer, Chief Bleskachek was showered with praise for her years of hard work. Perhaps no one was more pleased with the appointment than Mayor R. T. Rybak, a supporter of gay rights who made the promotion a media event.

But last Wednesday, it became clear that everything had changed. Citing a lack of confidence in Chief Bleskachek’s management style, Mr. Rybak asked the City Council to fire her.

The move was made after suits were filed against the city and Chief Bleskachek that accused her of playing sexual politics, retaliating against a former partner, acting as a lustful predator and showing bias against at least one heterosexual male firefighter.

“All of that information has been presented to us in great detail,” Mr. Rybak said. “I have to be honest. I very much wanted Bonnie Bleskachek to succeed.”

Chief Bleskachek says that she did succeed and that is precisely why she is entangled in such a case.

“Being an out lesbian, which the mayor really wanted to push, the first openly lesbian fire chief, made me an easy target,” she said. “The sharks smelled blood in the water.”

John A. Klassen, an employment lawyer representing the plaintiffs in three of the four suits against Chief Bleskachek, rejected that argument.

“None of these cases are antilesbian,” Mr. Klassen said. “These cases are about discrimination.”

He added, “It’s unfortunate that someone who could have been a beacon” for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people “was engaging in what everybody views as stereotypically male harassment behaviors.”

The suits, including one by a former partner of Chief Bleskachek, depict a firehouse culture where lesbians and their allies enjoyed favors and people who crossed them risked punishment.

Chief Bleskachek said the complaints were nonsense, calculated to prey on some of the public’s worst fears about gay men and lesbians in power. Of her accusers, she said, “They knew it would be tantalizing and salacious and that the City Council would run, turn tail and run the other way.”

The city has settled or is in the process of settling three suits for modest sums. That, Chief Bleskachek, said, angered her most of all.

“I wanted to have my day in court, to be deposed, to force these people to produce some proof,” she said. “It’s a devastating blow to my career, my reputation, my everything.”

The Minneapolis Fire Department had made strides in dismantling barriers to women and minorities, being held up as a model. It was widely considered one of the best places in the country to work as a firefighter, particularly for women.

The national average for women in firefighting agencies is 2.5 percent; in Minneapolis, 71 of 435 members, or 16 percent, of the Fire Department are women.

Last year, the department was first in the country for the number of women in the ranks, according to Women in the Fire Service, an advocacy group in Madison, Wis.

It was not always that way. In the late 1970s, the department was sued over a lack of diversity. It remained under federal oversight until 2000, when it was clear that a lack of diversity was no longer a problem.

Some credit goes to Chief Bleskachek, 43 supporters have said. In 1996, she was a co-founder of the Minnesota Women’s Firefighter Association, helping prepare women for firefighting careers and offering professional development to women who sought leadership posts.

Minneapolis has not decided whether the department still has a place for Chief Bleskachek, but she said she wanted to be part of it.

“I’ve worked too hard for years,” she said. “If I’m such a terrible manager, if I’m such a bad leader, where are the red flags in my past? The only thing I can come up with is that this is a whole lot of homophobia and sexism.”

A plaintiff, Firefighter Jennifer Cornell, is a former partner of Chief Bleskachek. They share custody of the chief’s two children.

Firefighter Cornell said in court papers that Chief Bleskachek, out of vengeance and pride, nullified the results of a test for promotion to battalion chief on which she performed well because Chief Bleskachek’s current partner, also a firefighter, did not pass.

Another plaintiff, Firefighter Kathleen Mullen, had been a friend of Chief Bleskachek for years, until the chief started dating Capt. Mary Maresca, who used to go out with Firefighter Mullen.

Firefighter Mullen passed the first part of the battalion chief’s test, only to have the remainder of the test canceled. She said the results were thrown out to prevent her promotion and in retaliation for not approving of Chief Bleskachek’s current relationship.

Chief Bleskachek said that a panel of city officials had found some test questions flawed and that she had stopped the entire test.

The two cases were settled. Firefighter Cornell had sought $300,000. She received $69,000 and a guaranteed promotion. Firefighter Mullen received a backdated promotion and $29,000.

After the first two suits were filed, a third firefighter, Kristina Lemon, filed a legal complaint stating that 10 years ago Chief Bleskachek pursued an unwanted romantic relationship with her. After being spurned, Firefighter Lemon said, Chief Bleskachek used her increasing power over the years to penalize her.

In the complaint, Firefighter Lemon described a loud argument when Chief Bleskachek demanded that she admit romantic feelings. At another time, Firefighter Lemon said in the complaint, Chief Bleskachek told her that she had “sexual dreams” about her.

“The defense for that is pretty simple,” said Jerry Burg, a lawyer for Chief Bleskachek. “It didn’t happen. These two people haven’t talked in 10 years, and Kristina is making it up.”

Firefighter Lemon’s case is in the final stages of settlement, said her lawyer, R. Daniel Rasmus. He would not discuss the terms.

A fourth suit was filed against Chief Bleskachek and her current partner, Captain Maresca, by Firefighter Elondo J. Wright, who says he suffered discrimination because he is not gay and not a woman. The federal case is in the early stages.

In his complaint, Firefighter Wright said that he was called a home wrecker after joining an all-female crew headed by Captain Maresca and that he was denied opportunities for advancement. He also said he saw the women “behaving in a physically inappropriate manner” while on duty at the firehouse, where they had adjoining rooms.

Captain Maresca declined to comment.

Amid the accusations less than a year after her reappointment to a second term, Chief Bleskachek said her head was spinning.

“It’s been brutal,” she said. “I still feel like I’m recovering from shock.”

Following New Zealand's public statement supported by 32 countries in 2005 in a pushing the United Nations Commission on Human RIghts to address the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity in a resolution in the near future, Norway issued a similar statement on December 1, 2006. This statement was delivered on behalf of 54 countries.

• At its recent session, the Human Rights Council received extensive evidence of human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including deprivation of the rights to life, freedom from violence and torture.

• We commend the attention paid to these issues by the Special Procedures, treaty bodies and civil society. We call upon all Special Procedures and treaty bodies to continue to integrate consideration of human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity within their relevant mandates.

• We express deep concern at these ongoing human rights violations. The principles of universality and non-discrimination require that these issues be addressed. We therefore urge the Human Rights Council to pay due attention to human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and request the President of the Council to provide an opportunity, at an appropriate future session of the Council, for a discussion of these important human rights issues.

Action Canada for Population and Development; Amnesty International; Association for the Prevention of Torture; Association for Women’s Rights in Development; Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network; Center for Women's Global Leadership; Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (New Rights Section); Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN); Fédération Internationale des Droits de l'Homme; Global Rights; Human Rights Watch; International Commission of Jurists; International Planned Parenthood Federation; International Service for Human Rights; International Trade Union Confederation; OMCT - World Organisation Against Torture ; Public Services International; Women for Women's Human Rights - NEW WAYS; World Population Foundation

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I am pleased to speak to issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and human rights, on behalf of 19 ECOSOC-accredited NGOs. This statement is also supported by more than 400 additional NGOs from over 60 countries (see attached list).

We welcome the statement on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, delivered by Norway on behalf of a broad grouping of 54 States from Western, Central and Eastern Europe, in North, Central and South America, in Asia, and in the Pacific. We acknowledge also the support of many African States for the inclusion of sexual orientation in UN resolutions condemning extrajudicial executions.

We commend Norway for its leadership, building on similar initiatives by Brazil, New Zealand and others, and we are particularly encouraged by the measurable increase in cross-regional support for these issues in recent years.

It is hard to imagine that any State committed to human rights could disagree with the principle that no person should face death, torture or violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We look forward to further dialogue with, and support from, those States which did not yet feel able to join the statement, but which share the concern of the international community at these systemic human rights abuses.

Numerous Special Procedures have documented violations of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, including use of the death penalty, torture, criminal sanctions, police harassment, violence, rape, beatings, disappearances, denials of freedom of expression, raids and closures of NGOs, and discrimination in education, employment, health and housing. We urge all Special Procedures to integrate these important issues of human rights concern into their relevant mandates.

Too often in the past, these human rights abuses have passed in silence. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour stated earlier this year:

“[V]iolence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons is frequently unreported, undocumented and goes ultimately unpunished. … This shameful silence is the ultimate rejection of the fundamental principle of universality of rights. … Excluding LGBT individuals from these protections clearly violates international human rights law as well as the common standards of humanity that define us all.”

… 2

Similarly, Secretary General Kofi Annan has acknowledged that “discrimination on the basis of … sexual orientation … is all too common” and, speaking at a gathering of lesbian and gay UN employees, affirmed that “the United Nations cannot condone any persecution of, or discrimination against, people on any grounds.”

At a time when this Human Rights Council is seeking to enhance cooperation across regions and UN mechanisms on matters of basic human rights, it is encouraging that increasingly States, Special Procedures, treaty bodies, civil society, the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights are joining together to ensure that human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity receive the international scrutiny and condemnation they require.

This issue will not go away. We look forward to future discussion within this Council, with a view to safeguarding the principle of universality, and ensuring that all persons are treated as free and equal in dignity and rights, including on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.